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Agriculture is the most Healthy and HonoraDie, as it is the most Natural and Dseful pursuit ol Man. 



VOL. XII. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y. — AUGUST, 1851. 



NO. 



A CONGRESS OF AGRIOTJLTURE. 



Although there is not a little ignorance in Franco, 

 as there must be in all nations whose population 

 exceeds thirty-five millions, yet we are inclined to 

 believe that it contains more science, and more of 

 the elements of agricultural progress, than is td be 

 found in any other equally populous and extensive 

 country on the globe. Certain it is, that the thirty- 

 five and a half millions of people in republican France 

 contrive to subsist very comfortably, judging them 

 by the European standard, and export more pounds 

 of flour and wheat to England than any other nation 

 on either side of the Atlantic. While the inhabi- 

 tants of the British islands find it necessary to buy 

 of other countries over ten million quarters of grain 

 a year, (85,000,000 bushels,) and import 110,000 

 tons of guano and an incredible amount of oil-cake, 

 from Russia, the United States, and elsewhere ; 

 France, with a population a fourth larger to feed, 

 imports very little manure, and still less of human 

 food. Great facts*like these are worthy of the pro- 

 foundest consideration of the citizens of this Repub- 

 lic. It has been well said that " history is philoso- 

 phy teaching by example ;" and of all history, that 

 of the present is most instructive, most truthful, and 

 most deserving of earnest and patient study. " The 

 institutions of society, like the laws," says the French 

 minister, "which satisfy the real wants of the public, 

 do not spring up spontaneously. Their history shows 

 us that they are always called for beforehand by the 

 public will, preceded by isolated efforts and partial 

 attempts up to the auspicious moment when the 

 legislator, constrained by the general sentiment, and 

 enlightened by the experiments already made, finds, 

 so to speak, the basis and the materials already for 

 the new edifice called for by the new wants of the 

 country." 



The above is sound doctrice, and among the many 

 useful institutions called for by " the public will, to 

 satisfy the real wants" of France, its " Central Con- 

 gress of Agriculture" stands conspicuous. This 

 Congress is composed of 600 delegates chosen by the 

 various agricultural societies of the republic — is a 

 permanent body, which convenes once a year, and 

 has a president and seo-etary to carry its official acts 

 into effect. Its sessions continue from one to two 

 or three weeks, as the agrK'iltural interests of the 

 nation seem to require. Evei^ intelligent reader 

 will see at a glance the value of e' ch an organiza- 

 tion. It has appointed a committee of scientific and 



practical farmers to attend the grand exhibition in 

 London, and purchase one of each new implement of 

 obvious value, not now in use in France, as a model 

 from which others can be constructed, make draw- 

 ings of new machinery which it may not be conve- 

 nient to buy, and collect useful knowledge from every 

 attainable source. M. Maureny, chairman of this 

 commission, has commenced his labors by an inter- 

 view with the committee of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society, at which he presented to the Duke of Rich- 

 mond, president of the Society, a set of the proceed- 

 ings of the sister Society, or Congress, in France. 

 This Congress keeps two or three gentlemen of 

 sound judgment constantly abroad, attending all ag- 

 ricultural and horticultural exhibitions, gathering 

 rare and valuable seeds and plants, as well as study- 

 ing the improvements made from year to year, in 

 constructing barns, stables, and stercoraries, and all 

 contrivances for draining and irrigation. Rural 

 economy, including tillage, husbandry, the breeding 

 of domestic animals, the daily care of stock, fruit 

 and forest culture, presents a wide field for critical 

 observations and universal advancement. 



We have often had occasion to dwell on the fact, 

 in writing for other journals, that the United States 

 is the only civilized nation in the world which has 

 no national society of any kind, either agricultural, 

 horticultural, or botanical, to introduce valuable 

 plants, fruits, and seeds, from abroad ; and yet, no 

 other country has a wider range of climate and soil 

 to meet the natural wants of the vegetable kingdom. 

 The British East India Tea Company produce about 

 200,000 chests of tea a year, on land no better adapt- 

 ed to the culture of this great staple than millions of 

 acres in the southern States. A now variety of 

 mammoth hemp has recently been introduced into 

 P'rance from the east, which promises extraordinary 

 advantages for the cheap manufacture of textile fab- 

 rics. Where in the wide v^orld can a Congress of 

 Agriculture do more good than in this extended re- 

 public ? Are we to remain forever the mere hewers 

 of wood and drawers of water for ambitious politi- 

 cians, who rarely serve any other interest but their 

 own pockets 1 More than half a century ago the 

 great and good Washington urged Congress to estab- 

 lish a National Board of Agriculture ; and from his 

 administration to the present, the friends of improve- 

 ment have never ceased to advocate the claims of 

 rural industry and science to the fostering care of 

 government. But it is a foolish waste of time and 

 of energies, to go to a political Congress for any 



